Hi Hello!
I thought I'd finally start typing out what I would view as quiiite an introduction into PC Enthusiasm, which had started around two years ago and has finally, only-just reached it's conclusion! I hope. Pretty sure it's a conclusion.
So, to start with, I'd like to juust take a little bit to talk about my PC History - or rather, lack thereof if we're only talking about Computers i've built up from the ground (as close to the ground as I can get, at least!)
The first computer I'd built from the ground up was a decomissioned HP Z440 that i got for 85 Moneys. Very good deal, If I do say so myself! It included 16GB of ECC RDIMM DDR4-2400, an Intel Xeon 1620-V4, the Blower CPU fan and the 700W Power supply, as well as a Quadro K420 that I still keep around as a diagnosis card, if I ever need it (though I replaced that card with a GTX1650 from my old Dell Optiplex because.. why wouldn't i?). That 700W was an amazing find, since it allowed me to undergo the following upgrade path over time (from April 2025 - October 2025):
1st Upgrade: Intel Core i7-6850K - 35 Moneys (May 2025)
This upgrade was INSANE for me. Though, it was also quite insane for my GTX1650 as well - it made it thermal throttle HARD in Elden Ring (was going from ~45-55FPS with the 1620V4 to 40-45 with the i7-6850K). As for how I kinda figured it would fit? Being the first PC that I'd ever really dug into outside of RAM, I simply didn't LOL. There was an old HP forum a few years ago where one person commented something along the lines of, "yeah the i7-6850K works" and I trusted it. And it was also CHEAP for what that CPU was.
P.S - Windows 10 (at the time) took like 3 restarts to recognise all 6 cores, even though the HP BIOS could fully recognise the CPU. Does anyone know why C612 and X99 chipsets are cross-compatable? I would have thought HP were the sort of people to clam their BIOS down tight.
At this point, I was slightly confused - Why does a bigger (theoretically speaking?) CPU tank frames rather than improving them? Well, the GPU (as I mentioned). the GTX1650 is a tiny little card. I'd used it since new (it'll be a hero later, i promise!) and it was, by all accounts, the first DGPU I'd ever bought. I learned MSI Afterburner and could physically see the temperature going down whenever i looked at the floor. Soo, I then bought the second upgrade!
2nd Upgrade: RTX2070 - 135 Moneys (June 2025)
This REALLY introduced me to Gaming as a whole, I'd think. Sure the GTX1650 could RUN games, but it couldn't PLAY games, if that makes any sense. So, in comes this card. Originally, I was debating between this and the RTX2070 Super, which would have been ever so slightly better afaik, but daamn for that price i could not beat it - absolutely no way. SO, I could finally play games now, right? I'd have thought so, too. See, because i got.. 45-50FPS Stable in Elden Ring. Okayyy, then. Bearing in mind, I was getting decent enough frames in every other game, sooo what gives?
Well, one day, I had someone who'd been in the Computing sphere for a good 20 or so years, if not longer, and We sat and just started playing - They were watching Telemetry and teaching me a bit about what Bottlenecks it could be and why, and I was listening along while I was playing, feeling the ever-so-slight hitches along the way.
--Interlude: Attempts to fix through Software!! --
So at this point, me and the Helper were a little stuck. the CPU didn't exactly.. upgrade anything, and the RTX2070 didn't exactly fix the issue. So, we're thinking it might just be Windows being Windows, right? Surely. So, we downloaded a neat little thing called Process Lasso onto the system.
At this point, I go through about 2-3 days worth of Software diagnosis with the Helper. it was super informative - both about how processes actually function, and how much more in-depth you can actually go with a bit of knowledge (on the Helper's side) and stubbornness!! Except, despite desperate attempts to change affinities, priorities, attempting to assigning cores directly to Elden Ring (it wouldn't let us for some reason. I don't remember if we ever actually found a fix for that), so on and so forth, The Helper had a bit of an epiphany. !RAM!
But, before we could upgrade that - Windows decided to be a bit silly and knee-capped my Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers, as it does. I had to go aaall the way through the OSI stack, from Software through to Hardware - at least, what I could access. Even to the point of permanently re-writing the MAC Address (after temporarily spoofing it) didn't solve the issue. It was here that I learned that Windows is a dum-dum! It doesn't care what slot your hardware is in - it'll see hardware in slot 1 differently from the same hardware in slot 2. So, with that in mind, I tried re-slotting it. and it WORKED. Completely "new" WiFi card, according to Windows :P
That incident definitely rubbed me the wrong way for Networking. Hope to never have to diagnose Networking issues again XD
3rd Upgrade: RAM - 19 moneys per stick because of ECC i
So, the third and final upgrade for the computer was RAM. Two sticks of 8GB ECC UDIMM 2400, bringing the total RAM Gigabyte count up to 32GB of ECC UDIMM 2400 RAM! And, when I originally bought just the one stick to test and see if it WAS RAM? My Elden Ring FPS JUMPED. Not kidding. JUMPED. from 45-50FPS averages all the way up to 50-55FPS averages. It was an INSANE leap.
But, at that point, me and the Helper friend had come to a conclusion - the PC was done. Stuffed. At it's end. I had Quad Channel explained to me (the reason why i got such a big FPS boost), but in the end, we'd reached the conclusion that the speed of the ram (2400MHz) and the timings (i believe the timings to be early 20s? I don't remember) were just unable to feed the LOCKED "unlocked" i7 fast enough.
Which I forgot to mention earlier - while the i7-6850K was able to be recognised in the machine, it was locked. Completely. occasional bursts of 3.7GHz, maybe 3.8GHz on a good day for a while there. But ultimately, It just wasn't being fed fast enough by the RAM. Suppose Elden Ring was INSANELY tough on RAM? Or maybe it's more of an ECC quirk, I still don't know.
But, I just wanted to share a fun Thing with people :D
My personal "First Built PC" was nothing short of a Boot-camp in Workstation Diagnosis LOL. Pretty sure I still have the HP Maintenance instructions still downloaded as a PDF on my phone XD
So, the PC was done. I played through Cyberpunk, Elden Ring (frame-capped with RTSS, which I also learned to use on the way), so on and so fourth. Until one day, the PCIe lane died on me. the only X8/X16 rail that the 2070 could actually be plugged into, as well. I was a bit devastated, to be honest. First PC, dead after a good few months. Thinking back on it now, Cyberpunk at 80FPS locked (medium-low settings, DLSS Quality) probably pushed the hardware a bit far, I'm unsure.
Anywho, Hope you enjoyed that! It's quite a read i know, but man was that year simultaneously the most fun, and the least fun, I'd ever had with computers! And, of course, it did NOT end there - after the PCIe failure, I had to replace it. A motherboard swap. But that's an entirely NEW derailment, so I won't bore you any longer :)
That was the story of my first PC. Hope you enjoyed it!